All Forum Posts by: Nancy Bachety

@Paul Faryna

I have 2 airbnb rentals. To get comfortable with the concept of VR I suggest you travel to a VR yourself, or an airbnb. Then consider being hosts. Get to know if you want to interact with a host as a traveler, and if you want to interact with your prospective guest as a host. That will help you decide if you want to hire that out (vrbo, someway, or co-host on airbnb, or some other local property mgmt co). That option comes with a cost but whatever works with your philosophy is the right option.

Next, do some leg work on those listing sites. What generates the highest rents? What are the cleaning fees? What are the county/state/city zoning laws? Do you like the area yourself if you have to go there to maintain?

The one in my home is pure and simple convenient and borne from the love of traveling and meeting people. From there, combined with our desire for real estate investing, we decided to buy a house that we'd live in one day in the city we'd be happy to live in. To afford it, we listed it. This will allow me to be considered a real estate professional and offset our w-2 wages was well as deem our furnishings as expenses. 

Any time we visit it will be a 'necessary trip for business' as we maintain it or repair something. If it's blocked out for any period of time, the irs categorizes it differently so we won't block it out but I'd consider raising the rents during that period.

That said, it's in North East FL, St Augustine, where the spring and summer is in demand but the rest of the year is not "slow". 2 miles from great beaches, walking distance to the Old Town and National Monument, wedding venues, concert hall, marinas, tourist destination. Key for us, we love the house and the area and expect to have mortgage pay down and tax advantages. Know what your goal is first.  

@Zana Blue   @June Patterson

@Luke McCann

I started a meetup in St Augustine for short term vacation rental hosts and we had a dozen attend the first meeting a few weeks ago. It's not what you're looking for but the idea is to start one. We did that here in Suffolk County and the first one was mostly a networking event but isn't that what you want initially? We invited a guest speaker to the St Aug meetup's next meeting and set meeting dates and locations for the upcoming months. It just takes a person to start it. 

Luke, are you at Flagler? Congratulations for reaching out and starting your 'other' education here.

@Selena Walsh You can get regulations on the city or county website. a good google search will help. 

Update - Frank and I furnished our entire 4 br 3 bath house in 6 days. If it wasn't in stock, we didn't buy it. Shopped from 2 excellent consignment stores (Jacksonville and St. Augustine) where we bought expensive items at new discount furniture prices. We bought lots of new items at local independent furniture store - head and foot boards, sofa bed, coffee tables, even mattresses at reasonable cost. Bought cubicles from Walmart (had to assemble those). Bought one gel foam mattress from Costco. Refridge, washer and dryer from a local appliance store instead of lower or Home Depot. They lent me a small fridge while we waited a couple days for delivery. We paid for delivery for some (local delivery companies). Bought outdoor furniture and grill from Lower, they delivered it assembled.

Loaded up from Walmart for kitchen items, big savings on silverware (service for 12 for $50). Small appliances, quality dishes, drink ware, etc. We bought sheets, pillows, towels, accents from Costco, Target, Marshalls, Bealls. Huge score from Marshalls for all 11 pairs of 96" drapes, most at $20 a pair and they're cotton, washable, not sheer or room darkeners but great drape and quality. Scored at St. Vincent's thrift store for most pictures and wall hangings. 

Frank was hanging the last picture when we greeted our guests on day 6. 

I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I don't know anyone who did what we did. 

On day 3, we met at the Meetup for short term vacation hosts that I had organized a week earlier. There were 12 hosts there. They were thrilled to be united and we organized an accountant to speak at the next meeting, set for next week.

I don't consider myself a "shopper" but I did my legwork. A huge help for me was hiring an interior designer for 2 hours who looked at my empty house (at the walk-through hours before the closing) and prepared a list of furnishings to buy, right down to the size of the area rugs and wall hangings and drapes. I paid her for the shopping list only, no styling help for this since I was at the mercy of what I found in stock that coordinated with everything. I bought white quilts for all 4 beds and then used drapes for color and accent pillows for pop. 

We're booked every weekend through June and it'll cover the mortgage. The furnishings will be expenses and should make a difference in the tax bill next year.

Wow- this isa LONG post. I should blog it because I could seriously do this for money!

@Selena Walsh

It depends if I'm local or out of state. I'd say knowing that the pm was local and could be hands-on as needed. And huge for me is finding a reliable cleaner or assuring the cleaning and changeovers get done. I would pay a flat fee for each turnover just to know you're taking the cleaners last minute emergency phone call or whatever.

Curious to know what your experiences and background is to start taking this on. I think it's an underserved area. The so called pm who aren't local to the area aren't worth their fee.

@Andrew Wong That's a lot of shopping! I haven't been to IKEA in years but I like to see furniture set up so that could help. I'm shopping Wayfair, Overstock, Marshalls and Costco for most of the furnishings and have it all delivered. 

@Aaron Cooper

With all the out of state investors in Jax I can see why you're in that type of PM there. How are you managing your place in the Keys? Basically, I feel the need for a vacay pm for overseeing the cleanings. I can take on the marketing and scheduling, and would make periodic visits for maintenance checks. I would prefer that, actually. I want to make contact with several cleaners this month before deciding if I'm turning it over to another mgmt service. 

@Aaron Cooper

Aaron, have you decided to go into Vacation Rental Mgmt? In your area, I've seen a lack of them. I am actively looking for a team for mine in St. Augustine and have found one local and Evolve (based in Colorado but with "partners" who are local and Rented (not local either).

@Ariel Smith That's a great idea. I don't know any one, literally, in the area. I've looked up on Craigslist and online to start getting names for next week when I'm there. Thanks!

This is an area where I am in need of feedback and advice. Thanks to@John Underwood I've gotten good tips from  for the wifi thermostat and camera.

I see on some listings with leather and some with microfiber. I see blinds, shades curtains, drapes, bare just toppers. I see too much "stuff" and "sparse". My house is brand new and has dark hard wood floors, white cabinetry, quartz counter tops, stainless steel, and pale grey paint throughout so I have no remodeling to do, "just" to furnish it.

Can anyone talk about furnishing a new house to be used a vacation home (most of the time, for now). As in, if you had to start all over again, how would you approach it???

Thanks.